Poems Of Love For You
by LambdaBern
Summary: Rika goes out for shopping, Hanyuu goes out for a walk, and Satoko is left alone at home. Bored, she explores the house, still unsure if she knows every nook and cranny of it even after living in it all this time. She stumbles across a secret space in the ceiling of the closet, and a journal filled with poems... SatoRika.


''Hm? What's this...?''

Satoko had been left alone at home as Rika went out to do the shopping that day. However, Rika always took so long, almost two hours sometimes, and wasn't as keen as Satoko with sales. That's why Satoko actually preferred to be the one always doing the shopping, but Rika had insisted, saying she wanted to pay her back for everything she did for her.

That embarrassed Satoko a little, and she wanted to say she never actually did anything really special or that Rika did so much more for her, but she caught herself and gave in, not wanting to be mean or hurt her friend when she was just trying to do a kind gesture for Satoko.

When she left however, Satoko was quickly bored without her best friend. Hanyuu also left for one of her walks around the village, and she wasn't back for hours and hours sometimes. Satoko assumed her older friends would be busy as well, with their families or each other or such. So Satoko decided to clean around the house a little and explore. She had lived there for a long time now, but she was sure there were more secrets to be found!

She recalled finding Rika's naked baby pictures not even a week after moving in, and when Rika walked in on her giggling over them, it was one of very few times where Satoko saw her friend so embarrassed. Rika begged for Satoko to hand them over, and they both ran all over the house that day as Rika tried to get them back. Satoko only commented on what a cute butt Rika had, and Rika replied that she was going to burn the photos as soon as she got her hands on her.

Satoko smiled, still finding it as incredibly funny now as it had been back then.

Satoko had been...very unhappy when she first moved in with Rika, and for a long time afterwards. That was the first of many times where she was actuly happy and having fun again, after such a long long time being without those things, and so soon after moving in too.

Rika...had that magical effect. Sure, it still wasn't always like that for a long long time, and sometimes Satoko would laugh at a funny joke or something just a little, but then immediately return to being sad and quiet.

Nii-Nii had disappeared, and Satoko concluded it was her fault, for being an awful little sister. On her birthday last year...he didn't come home...or on the next day, or the day after that and so on...

Satoko shaked the painful thoughts out of her head, that was why she promised to become a better sister and a better person in general. And one day, Nii-Nii would come home...and he would see that she changed...

Despite the fact she was so unhappy...Rika gave her her smile back, she brought her happiness back. She never made Satoko feel like she was a bad person, and she was always so so kind...she never got annoyed or angry with Satoko...if she ever made a mistake all Rika would do is give her that warm smile and pat her head, saying she'd be even better next time...

Simply, Rika was an angel...

Satoko found herself blushing at that thought, and turned her attention back to her new find.

She had been exploring the closet and noticed something weird with the ceiling. Soon enough, she found there was some sort of secret space up there if you pushed up on it and took off the cover. She wondered if it was some sort of hiding spot for something or some_one_, and she thought it could fit two, maybe three people...

It was her first time up here but it felt so...familiar...

_I wonder why...? _Satoko asked herself in her mind, and her attention went to some kind of journal.

_Aha! I wonder if this is some kind of other picture album, ohohoho..._

She turned through the pages, seeing only words and feeling disappointed. She wanted something to embarrass Rika with, but she started to realize it would probably never happen again and that Rika probably did burn the past pictures.

_Hmm...is this...something Rika's parents wrote or something...?_

Satoko decided to read some of the pages, and she found that they were all poems...the name of the person who Satoko thought might have wrote them was always blurred at the bottom and pretty much unreadable...that didn't really interest her at all though, the poems themselves did.

_Even if the world does not forgive you, I will forgive you..._

_The frog in the well was happy, he wasn't interested in the outside world..._

_The little girl cried when she thought she dropped her marbles..._

Satoko found that they all seemed very sad, as if written by a very miserable, trapped person...who wrote them...? Rika's parents...? Or...or Rika...? Was this her diary...? This didn't seem like her though, the Rika she knew was always happy...

But...but Satoko did realize the happiness seemed somewhat fake a lot of the time, and that every other moment Rika was staring off or looking sad...

Satoko never pressed however, if she asked what was wrong Rika simply smiled again and said it was nothing...

Satoko didn't really believe it, but figured Rika didn't want to talk to her and she left it alone...

_I was the most unfortunate.  
I knew that there was no exit out of this maze._

_Then, he was the next unfortunate._  
_He did not know that there was no exit out of this maze._

_But all the rest weren't so unfortunate._  
_They didn't know that they were in the maze in the first place._

Whoever this was written by, Satoko wondered who the poems were addressing with the hes, shes and theys sometimes.

_At the first time, I do my best to try again  
against the inevitable tragedy._

_In the second time, I become disgusted_  
_towards the inevitable tragedy._

_The third time, disgust is overwhelmed into painfulness._  
_But by the seventh time, this all becomes a farce comedy._

Satoko noted these really seemed to have been written by an adult sometimes...but if it was Rika's, maybe she was just a lot smarter than she let on...

She was always helping Satoko when she got stuck on her schoolwork and usually did perfectly on her own work...perhaps Rika liked poetry too, and just didn't talk about these things? Rika could be very mysterious sometimes...so maybe..she was a lot sadder than she let on...

Some of the poems talked about death or tragedy.

_Please tell me what happened in this night._  
_The cat in the box was dead._

_So who is the culprit?  
Who is the culprit that's gonna kill me?!_

_What is it that I seek?_

_Perhaps it is a knight from a far away land._

_What is it that I seek?_  
_Perhaps it is a shore that will save me from this eternal swamp._

_There is only one thing that I seek._  
_What I would obtain will either be the kishi (shore), or shiki (my death)._

This really worried Satoko, but perhaps it was just artistic choice by whoever wrote it...? Maybe she shouldn't worry so much, poems didn't always have to be about the person writing them or from the heart, right...? I mean, they usually were but...sometimes they're written for others...

And that is when Satoko noticed towards the end, they became happier.

_I wanted to know the world that was outside of the well.  
So I tried hard to get out from the bottom of the well._

_I wanted to know the world that was outside of the well._  
_So I climbed up numerous of times despite falling down over and over again._

_But then I realized it._  
_The higher and higher I climb, the pain increases when I fall down again._

_When my interest in the world outside of the well began to equal the amount of pain,_  
_That was when I finally realized the meaning of the story of the frog in the well_

_What kind of world lies outside of the well?  
Is it something that is worth struggling for?_

_What kind of world lies outside of the well?_  
_Is it something so attractive enough to fall and try over and over again?_

_What kind of world lies outside of the well?_  
_Let's enjoy taking the pains of finding that out._

_If I reach the world that yearn for, it must be a spectacular world._  
_Even if that world was another pit inside a well._

_The key to the new world is the resolve to get out of the well._  
_Being able to get out or not,_  
_A new world awaits..._

_Everyone has a right to pursue a happy life._

_The difficult part is to be given that right._

_Everyone has a right to pursue a happy life._  
_The difficult part is to fulfill that right._

_I too have a right to pursue a happy life._  
_The difficult part is to work out a compromise for that right._

_That's because_

_I'm gonna become much much more happy from now on._

_I'm not gonna compromise with just this._  
_We are gonna take back all of our happiness that we lost._

_For me, that's about a hundred year's worth._  
_For you, a thousand year's worth._

They all became about getting out of a well or becoming happy...but even after that there was still more...

_She wasn't discouraged nor did she cry at her fate._

_She was beautiful._

_She didn't fawn anyone and fought them all by herself._  
_She was noble._

_She shined brightly, like a divine figure._  
_I needed someone like her._

This one made Satoko blush a little. It sounded so romantic and definitely like a poem for or about another person. And soon, they all became more like that...

_Her smile brings the light into this world._

_Her smile brings the light into my life._

_Her smile chases away the misery and darkness._

_Her smile helps me continue to fight._

_I don't want her smile to be lost for any reason._

_Her hair falls perfectly, her eyes shine with never lost optimism._

_When her cheeks turn scarlet or her hand is in mine, or her arms are around me protecting me, that is true happiness._

Satoko's attention went to a less blurry name than the earlier ones covered in dust, and she blew it away, hoping to see some kind of signature. Perhaps this was by Rika's father for her mother, it was so sweet and romantic...

_Sato...ko..._

Satoko stared at her name written on the paper with shock.

_M-me...? T-then who wrote this...? Did Rika really..._

"S-Satoko...?"

Satoko jumped slightly, and turned around to see none other than Rika's head peeking up into the secret space. Her eyes went to the journal in Satoko's hands, and she almost seemed scared. "A-ah, t-that..."

Satoko was filled with regret, and tried to speak.

"A-ah, I found this...I wanted to explore around the house while you and Hanyuu were out, and I found this secret space and...a-and I'm sorry for reading if its your diary, I-I wouldn't have if I knew that's what it was, I-I..."

Rika reached out and gently took the journal out of Satoko's hands, and Satoko didn't know what else to say. Rika hugged the journal close to her chest, looking down. Satoko was worried she had been really hurt.

"A-ah...I-I'm sorry, Rika..."

''Mii...it's okay...you don't need to apologize, I'm not upset or anything..." After being silent for a bit, she continued. "How much...did you see...?"

''U-um...all of it, I think..."

''Oh..."

With that, Rika climbed down out of the space.

Satoko followed behind a bit after she left, worried.

Rika left the journal on the table and was in the kitchen, taking something out of one of the shopping bags.

"Mii, I bought popsicles since it's so hot today," she said, and handed Satoko her favorite flavor.

"Ah, thank you Rika..."

''...Do you have any questions about what you read...?"

Satoko was a bit taken aback by Rika's sudden question and mention about the journal again.

"Um, well not really I guess...but um, I thought..they were all really beautiful poems, though a bit sad sometimes...did you write them...?"

Rika to the side. "I did...I wrote...a lot of them when I felt...very sad about things...a lot of them were written a long time ago though. The happier ones...are a lot more recent...since...I'm much...happier now..."

Rika smiled at Satoko, and the smile put Satoko at ease. However, she felt a bit angry at herself, not noticing Rika might've been very sad...or at least, not doing anything about it.

Rika added, with a blush, "And a lot of that is thanks to my friends...and you especially, Satoko..."

Satoko felt her cheeks grow hot, and Rika wasn't finished.

"I was...surprised when I saw you found them...but a bit glad...the last few..." Rika shuffled her feet, blush deepening. "Were for you, especially...Satoko...I...I like you..."

Satoko's heart must have been beating 300 miles per hour at that moment.

"I...I get if...they were weird, or creepy though...I..."

Satoko hated her scared, hurt sounding tone, and she grabbed Rika's hand with both of hers.

"No...I...don't think like that! I-I liked the last one the most!" She said, eyes shut tight. "I-I'm flattered you think that way...it was a very sweet poem, it means a lot to me that you think so highly of me, I-I..." Satoko's entire face was a tomato right then.

"S-Satoko..."

"I...I think I like you too! Rika...makes me...very happy! And is irreplacable, and, and-"

Satoko felt Rika almost crash into her, hugging her tightly and burying her head in her shoulder. Satoko hugged her back, embarrassed, and felt an ache in her heart. She wouldn't mind staying like this forever...

"Hmm? Did something happen?"

Both Rika and Satoko jumped and squeaked, separating quickly. Hanyuu walked towards them with a smile on her face, and you could almost see question marks around her head...

"A-ah, Hanyuu , you're back...great to see you!" Satoko said, hoping Hanyuu wouldn't question why they were just hugging again. ''What would you like for dinner?''

After she asked that, Satoko felt Rika's hand on her shoulder.

''I'll make dinner tonight, since Satoko always works so hard. Nipah~!''

''R-Rika, you already did the shopping, you don't need...well...alright...''

Rika beamed at her.

''Ah, well, I'd like cream puffs!'' Hanyuu replied to Satoko's question.

''I want spicy curry tonight!'' Rika smiled directly at Hanyuu, the most sinister smile imaginable.

As Hanyuu began to cry and go ''au auuuu'', Satoko smiled at her apologetically. Hanyuu sulked, leaving for the bathroom.

''Satoko, t-there was one more thing...''

''Huh? What Rika?''

The next thing she knew, Rika quickly pressed her lips against her cheek, and then ran off towards the bathroom.

''S-sorry Hanyuu, I need to go first!''

''H-huh, au au watch out-''

**_Crash._**

Satoko smiled and giggled, holding a hand to her cheek.

''Rika...''

* * *

**A/N: Amazing, I'm publishing something right after writing and proof reading it, instead of leaving it in the doc manager for months feeling incredibly unsatisfied. Um, what you liked and didn't like would be helpful I guess! What I could better, etc...I'm always up for good critique.**


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